Who does the NRA really speak for?

Related Media

The National Rifle Association represents deer hunters, self-defense and Second Amendment devotees. But in a very direct way, the NRA also represents Bushmaster, Browning, Smith & Wesson, and the rest of the gun industry. Gun-makers have donated at least $39 million to the NRA in recent years and have become deeply enmeshed with the organization.

As a result, the NRA adamantly opposes virtually all restrictions on gun sales — even ones that NRA members support, such as requiring background checks at gun shows and banning sales to people on terrorist watch lists.

Gun-makers can no longer depend on a shrinking pool of hunters; they need to sell arsenals of powerful weaponry to hard-core gun devotees preparing to fight a tyrannical government.

So when the NRA speaks, it’s these extremists and their suppliers who are talking, not your average “Joe Six-Shooter.”